[quote="rcrsn51"]Some Brother printers can be installed using the drivers that are included with Puppy. However, the Brother website offers a large collection of Linux drivers for their models. Here are the steps to install one.

DEBBI

The Brother downloads are available in either DEB or RPM format, but you will use the DEB versions. To install the packages, you need the "Debian-Brother Installer". Download and install debbi-1.1.pet from the attachment below. It copies the file debbi to the folder /root/my-applications/bin.

This little program will extract the contents of a DEB package to your hard drive and run the post-install script. You will use it for both printer and scanner drivers.

Some older Brother models also require the "csh" shell instead of the "bash" shell used by Puppy. See the list here under Pre-required Procedure (6). If you have one of these printers, install the csh-6.16.00-i486.pet from below before continuing.

Locate your printer. You will download two files - the LPR driver and the CUPS wrapper driver. Get the DEB versions. Select Save to Disk and store them in /root. As an example, let's assume that you downloaded the files mfc210clpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb and cupswrapperMFC210C-1.0.2-3.i386.deb.

Go to your /root folder and press the ~ key. This opens a console window. To display a list of files, type:

Code:

ls

Now type:

Code:

debbi mfc210clpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb

followed by

Code:

debbi cupswrapperMFC210C-1.0.2-3.i386.deb

This procedure is an ideal situation for using Tab Completion to avoid having to type the whole filename. Try typing:

Code:

debbi <space> mfc <tab> <enter>

In most cases, you can ignore any error messages from the debbi script.

The post-install script creates a PPD file for your printer and stores it in the folder /usr/share/cups/model. And depending on your model, it may also add a printer in CUPS attached to a USB port, ready to use.

However, before launching the CUPS Wizard, there is another step. The Brother driver keeps its own printer configuration settings separate from CUPS. In these settings, the default paper size may be set to A4. So if you are using Letter size, you must manually change it.

Go to /usr/local/Brother/.../inf and locate the file brxxxrc, where xxx is the name of your printer. Open the file and change the PaperType from A4 to Letter.

Run the CUPS wizard and go to Manage Printers. Try printing a test page for the new printer. If it works, you're done! If not, you may need to delete the printer, restart CUPS, let it rediscover the printer and then add it again. You will find the new PPD file in the Brother category.

For your convenience, the drivers for several Brother models are attached below as ready-to-use PETs. These packages do not automatically install a printer, so you will need to run the CUPS Find New Printers option. There is a second page of drivers posted farther down this thread.

NETWORK PRINTERS

If you are using a Puppy with CUPS 1.3 and let CUPS auto-detect your printer, the device URI will look like

Code:

socket://192.168.2.15

However, in newer Puppies with CUPS 1.4, the URI may look like

Code:

lpd://BRN_B7DD77/BINARY_P1

When you try to print, CUPS will fail with the error message "Unable to locate". This is because CUPS needs a way of looking up the IP address that matches the printer name.

To solve this problem, open the file /etc/hosts and add a line like

Code:

192.168.2.15 BRN_B7DD77

___________________________________________________________________

For some reason my router changed the IP for the printer, so /etc/hosts went to the wrong place... and ping looked into the abiss! If I entered:

ping brw00242XXXXXXX, it responded with 192.168.1.25; what I told it!

In windows ping brw00242XXXXXXX, returned 192.168.1.44; so make sure your /etc/host is correct

Pure genius! Managed to delete all my previous mistakes; HL2240 now prints perfectly from Slacko5.4 using your .pet and ghostscript.
Very many thanks. Couldn't have done it without you, rc.
Over and out.

Opened Cups (it’s version 1.4.3, BTW) and searched again...nothing.
Did my best to manually install but didn’t really know what I was doing

Tried to install a driver from within CUPS but they were all outdated, my printer didn’t show up.

By contrast, my iphone detects our printer and prints in an instant.

I love Puppy and I know how remarkably versatile it is, so I know it’s only my own ignorance that prevents me understanding how it can connect to a wireless router and access the ‘net with ease, but printing to a wireless printer is such a tough task Last edited by redandwhitestripes on Thu 01 Aug 2013, 08:30; edited 1 time in total

Opened Cups (it’s version 1.4.3, BTW) and searched again...nothing. Did my best to manually install but didn’t really know what I was doing(

I tested the debbi procedure with the DEBs for your MFCJ430W and it worked correctly.

1. Open the Printers tab. You should see a USB printer that debbi created. Delete it.

2. Open the Administration tab. Select Find New Printers. Depending on your network, this may take several tries. Lucid is slow to find networked printers.

3. If your printer is detected, follow the steps to install it. There are two possibilities.

a. The Connection URI is listed as socket://a.b.c.d. Your printer is installed. Print a test page.

b. The URI is listed as lpd://server/queue. Read in the How-To about adding a line to your /etc/hosts file.

4. If CUPS cannot detect your printer, go to Add Printers and select AppSocket/JetDirect. Use the URI in 3a. above where a.b.c.d is the IP address of your printer.Last edited by rcrsn51 on Tue 26 Mar 2013, 10:39; edited 1 time in total

Thank you rcrsn51. I just bought a Brother laser printer off of Craigslist today and was able to get it up and running with Puppy within a matter of minutes. The hardest thing to do was to figure out where the printer's power button was.

Lucid 525 was one of the versions with a wonky firewall setup. I would try a different Puppy.

You didn't show me the CUPS Connection URI for your printer. You will see it in the Printers section of CUPS.

I would install the printer again and try "socket://192.168.1.40". Do NOT use leading zeros in the IP address. If that doesn't work, this is definitely a networking issue.

I would also do a test where you connect the printer directly by USB. This will confirm that you have the correct driver for your model.

Quote:

So I added a couple of varients, the latter of which is the address my browser automatically redirects to when I enter the former (though it still gives me a 404 reply).

I don't understand this comment. What is the actual IP address of the printer? Get it from the printer's physical control panel. If you need to add an entry to the hosts file, do NOT use leading zeros in the IP address.

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